South America is easily the richest continent in its number of animal and plant species and contains five of the world’s 25 “hotspots,” areas rich in species found nowhere else that are also at extreme risk of destruction. "Creatures Beneath the Canopy" was built and designed to replicate two South American hot spots: Atlantic Rain Forest, and Choco-Darien-Western Ecuador. The Atlantic Forest is located along Brazil's Atlantic Coast, from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande so Sul. The Choco-Darien region begins at the Panama Canal and extends south through coastal Colombia, the western coast of Ecuador, and northwestern Peru.

Our exhibt includes cotton-top tamarins, golden lion tamarins, Linne's two-toed sloth, agouti, southern three-banded armadillo, Chilean or southern Pudu, poison frogs, and a variety of birds including green aracaris. Click on the links below to learn more about the animals in this exhibit.

Cotton-top tamarin

Golden lion tamarin

Agouti

Green aracari

Linne's two-toed sloth

Pudu

Southern three-banded armadillo

What makes a hotspot unique?
Hotspots occupy less than 1.5% of the world’s land and are the sole home to more than one-third of all plant and animal species. They contain 44% of all plant species and 35% of all terrestrial vertebrate species in only 1.4% of the plant’s land area.

How many hotspots are there?
So far, 25 hotspots around the world have been identified.

Which two factors are considered for hotspot designation?
To be considered a hotspot, a region must support 1,500 “endemic” plant species (0.5% of the global total) and must have lost more than 70% of its original habitat.

What are endemic species?
While some plants and animals are widely distributed around the globe, others–known as endemic species–are found only in very restricted areas, like a single island, mountaintop, river or lake. Species endemic to a hotspot are found exclusively within the hotspot boundaries.

This exhibit is sponsored by: